Mental recovery from COVID often takes longer than physical healing, study finds
A new study from UCLA researchers has found that while people with COVID-19 symptoms typically recovered physically within three months, many continued to struggle with mental well-being for up to nine months. Even a year later, one in five participants still reported poor overall health.
Published Tuesday in Open Forum Infectious Diseases, the study tracked more than 1,400 individuals who experienced COVID-like symptoms between December 2020 and August 2022. About 75% of the participants tested positive for the virus. Over a year, researchers surveyed them every three months on key aspects of health-related quality of life, including sleep, fatigue, cognitive function and social engagement.
The findings revealed a significant gap between physical and mental recovery. While most participants regained physical health within the first three months, improvements in mental health — particularly in areas such as anxiety, depression and fatigue — progressed more slowly, with the most noticeable gains occurring between six and nine months after illness.
'The findings showed that health care professionals need to pay more attention to their patients' mental well-being after a COVID-19 infection and provide more resources that will help improve their mental health, in addition to their physical health,' said Lauren Wisk, co-lead author and assistant professor of medicine at UCLA.
Participants fell into four health categories: optimal health, poor mental health, poor physical health and poor overall well-being.
Among those with the worst outcomes, 42% identified as having long COVID — highlighting a strong connection between long COVID and lasting health struggles.
Surprisingly, those who tested positive for COVID were slightly more likely to return to full health than those who tested negative. Researchers suggest this could be due to undiagnosed conditions or false-negative test results.
"Future research should focus on how to improve the treatment models of care for patients who continue to experience COVID-19 symptoms and their impact on patients' quality of life, especially as 1-in-5 patients may continue to suffer over a year after their initial infection, which likely reflects long COVID," Wisk said.
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